Saints Win Preseason Opener, Meachem Shines

The Saints defeated the Cardinals 24-10 in the opening preseason game for both teams. While the score looks like the Saints dominated, it was more like the Saints 2nd/3rd stringers dominated the Cardinals bench.

The biggest bright spot was second year WR Robert Meachem, who had 4 catches for 129 yards and a TD. Meachem also had a great catch in the first half from a Mark Brunell throw that looked to be going over his head. If this kid keeps this up, he'll have the #3 WR spot secured in no time.

Both team's starting units were solid and veteran QB Kurt Warner, while suited up, didn't get into the game so the Saints 2nd string was really going against a 3rd string QB in Brian St. Pierre. Arizona was leading 10-7 at halftime, but that score was deceiving as well with the Saints forgoing a game tying field goal attempt on a 4th and one from the one-yard line ... instead Pierre Thomas was stuffed and the Saints came away with no points.

All-in-all it was what you'd expect from the first preseason game. Starters played a series or two and the backups got lots of action. There was no real game planning and no elaborate blitz packages and the offensive playbook was pretty vanilla.

Here are the Pros and Cons from what I saw in the game:

PROS:
Meachem and the other Wide Receivers - the WR corps as a whole showed good hands and consitently go open against the Cardinals. David Patton caught a few passes on the first series, including a TD. Rookie Adrian Arrington also had two grabs before leaving with turf toe.

Return game - Skyler Green and Peirre Thomas had a good night returning punts and kickoffs. Green never broke a big one, but he gained postive yards on all his returns. Thomas had a big return and showed why he'll get lots of chances in the regular season.

Drew Brees and QB play - Drew Brees played one series and was 6/7 with a TD. Brunell also showed why the Saints needed an upgrade at backup QB.

No major injuries - The Saints came out of the game with no major injuries. Arrington's turf toe and Bobby McCray's bruised calf were the only noted injuries.

CONS:
Saints pass defense - The Saints pass defense didn't look great, especially when Matt Leinart was in the game. There was a missed coverage on a 3rd and long, which the Cardinals converted, and then a rub route by the Cardinals allowed for another big gain. The pass rush looked better, so hopefully, when Mike McKenzie and Tracy Porter come back the secondary will be improved.

Taylor Mehlhaff's kickoffs - Martin Gramatica looked better on kickoffs than rookie Taylor Mehlhaff. Maybe the Saints told him to kick a few short to help the coverage teams, but Gramatica's kickoffs went to the goal line every time. Mehlhaff did make the Saints only FG attempt, but the announcers noted that he was the most inconsitent kicker in warm ups.

Run Blocking - The running game never got established and a few nice runs by Reggie Bush were called back for holds. Pass blocking was solid, but the holes never were opened for the RBs, especially near the goal line.

Sedrick Ellis wasn't a force - All camp we've heard about Ellis eating up the offensive linemen, but he didn't really show much in his limited playing time. Other d-linemen like Orien Harris, James Reed and Antwan Lake made their presence known with sacks, tackles and pressure up the middle. It is only the first preseason game and I'm being nitpicky, but when your the #7 pick in the draft, I'd like to see you do something in your first game.

ESPN MNF Announcers - They are perhaps worse than last year, and that's saying a lot. Mike Tirico calls a football game like he's calling golf. No emotion or elaboration. Tony Kornheiser is more annoying than ever. The only one that keeps it to football is Ron Jaworski.

Next preseason game: Aug. 16 vs. Houston

Saints Open Preseason at Arizona on ESPN

If there was ever a game to take WWL's advice and turn down your TV and turn up 870 AM, tonight's the game to do it. With ESPN broadcasting the Saints preseason opener at the Arizona Cardinals on the same day that Brett Favre is traded to the Jets, the football game will soon become secondary to all the Favre updates. Oh well, what can you do? Football season is here!

With this being the first preseason game, the Saints are being cautious with a number of starters, but there will still be a lot to look for tonight. Here are some of the things I'll be checking out:

1. Which newcomers will have an impact?
Some of the Saints newcomers (Jeremy Shockey, Tracy Porter and Jonathan Vilma) will sit out the first preseason game so we won't get a look at them tonight, but there are plenty of others to watch for. Many Saints fans will want to check out 1st round pick Sedrick Ellis. Others that I'm interested to see include Randall "Blue" Gay, Adrian Arrington, Skyler Green, Aaron Glenn, Mark Brunell and Bobby McCray.

2. How will the running backs look?
Deuce McAllister is going to be one of the veterans sitting out tonight's game, so this will give other running backs more opportunities to showcase their skills. Reggie Bush will paly with the first team, and I don't look for him to get too much work. They won't want to run him too much and risk him tweaking something. Pierre Thomas should get lots of work along with Aaron Stecker and Lynell Hamilton. If Thomas continues what he showed last preseason and in the Bears game, he'll get his share of carries in the regular season.

3. Who's going to emerge at wide receiver?
Marques Colston and David Patton are the Saints starters but after them, it is wide open. Adrian Arrington, Skyler Green, Robert Meachem, Terrance Copper, Devery Henderson and Lance Moore are the WRs realistically competing for roster spots. Any of them could be the #3 WR and any of them could be cut (except for Meachem). The competition is that close. Arrington has been the star of camp, so it will be fun to see what he does in a game situation. Henderson and Colston will be out with injuries, so everyone else will get plenty of work, but they'll have Tyler Palko throwing to them in the second half, so we'll see how that goes. They may have to work even harder to get open for Palko to find them.

4. Who's going to earn a roster spot on special teams?
With the above WRs all so closely rated, the way to earn a roster spot is to stand out on special teams. Skyler Green made a name for himself in this past week's scrimmage with his kickoff return TD. Lance Moore is also competing for a spot as a returner and Terrance Copper has been one of the top special teams players since he came to New Orleans. Robert Meachem and Adrian Arrington are learning special teams to help their chances of being on the active roster. Pierre Thomas and Reggie Bush are also working as returners, but their roster spots are more than safe.

5. Can the secondary stop anyone?
The biggest question mark for the Saints the past few years has been the secondary. The team brought in Aaron Glenn and Randall Gay and drafted Tracy Porter this offseason to bolster this struggling unit. With Mike McKenzie and Porter not playing tonight, Glenn, Gay, Usama Young, Jason David and Jason Craft will get plenty of opportunities to show that the secondary is improved. At safety, Kevin Kaesviharn and Roman Harper look to be the starting safeties.

6. Can we buy into training camp hype?
Every year there are players who excell during training camp. This year the buzz has been around guys like WR Adrian Arrington, DE Bobby McCray, OG/T Carl Nicks and OT Jermone Bushrod. Its great to hear that these players are stepping up, especially guys like Nicks and Bushrod who will be the top backups on the offensive line, but you never know if you should believe the hype. A few years ago Onome Ojo lit up training camp, but never panned out. Then Marques Colston burst on the scene and the Saints had found their #1 wide receiver. Last year, Lance Moore had the best camp of any Saint, but he had an up-and-down year. Will these guys translate training camp success into regular season success? Only time will tell if they'll be the next Colston or the next Ojo.

7. How will the kickers fair on the big stage?
Martin Gramatica and Taylor Mehlhaff are competing for the Saints kicker position. Speculation is that both can make the team, one as kickoff specialist and one as the field goal kicker, but Coach Payton would prefer if one of them won both jobs outright. In practice, its hard to simulate the pressure of a game situation, so tonight will be the first real test for them. The race has been tight throughout camp with both making almost all of their kicks and booting kickoffs into the end zone. The competition seems to have revived Gramatica's career. The Saints spent a draft pick on Mehlhaff, so you would think they'd rather him win the job, but Coach Payton has shown that he'll go with the best player no matter how they were acquired.

Is it over now?

I don't know if you've heard but there's been something going on with Brett Favre and the Packers for the past few weeks ... something about him wanting to come out of retirement to not be a distraction. I may be sketchy on the details, if only the national media (mainly ESPN) had focused any attention on this story. Yeah, I wish.

With the minute-by-minute Brett Favre coverage that ESPN has been providing, it would be hard to find a sports fan anywhere who hasn't heard about Favre's desire to come out of retirement and play for the Packers or someone else in their division (ie, Vikings or Bears). The entire situation has come to an end with Favre being traded to the Jets for a conditional 4th round pick this morning.

He didn't exactly get his wish, but with only Tampa Bay and the Jets being actively involved in trade discussion and the Packers desire to keep him out of the NFC North, it may be the best situation for Favre. While Tampa may be a better team in an easier conference, they already have five quarterbacks on the roster. The Jets had Kellen Clemons and a soon-to-be-released Chad Pennington competing for the job. Favre is an immediate upgrade and the Jets become a major player behind New England in their division.

I am so glad that this has finished, but then I realized that Favre's press conference will be covered, his first practice will be covered, 1st preseason game, 1st regular season game, 1st game with the Patriots, etc. It's only just begun. ESPN will continue the minute-by-minute Favre coverage and the other 31 teams in the league will get ignored.

At least the Packers can move on with Aaron Rodger now, but wait until that first bad game from him or his first injury. ESPN will be all over that. Oh yeah, ESPN will also televise the Packers first game, so look for many a Brett Favre reference because Green Bay was supposed to be retiring #4 at half time that day. So while one chapter is closed, many more are still waiting to be written. I guess I'll just have to keep fast forwarding through NFL Live to catch the 5 minutes of non-Brett Favre stories. At least we have the new Madden game to look forward to where we don't have to constantly see Brett Favre's image ... oh nevermind.

Hornets Schedule Released

The Hornets 2008-09 schedule was released yesterday, and New Orleans is officially one of the elite clubs in the league with 13 national television games. Included in the national TV games are games on Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter.

With the team's success last year and Chris Paul finishing 2nd in MVP voting, getting these national games is expected now. Just a few years ago, the Hornets were featured on ESPN or TNT just once or twice in a season. I remember a couple years ago where the Hornets were to play Charlotte on ESPN, but since both teams were terrible, ESPN pulled the game off their schedule. That won't happen with this team. Not as long as the nucleus of CP3, Tyson Chandler and David West stay together. The future is bright for basketball in the Big Easy.

Here's the Hornets official site's Top 20 Games to Watch and the complete schedule.

Saints to Sit the Ailing vs. Arizona

Many of the Saints regulars will sit out or not travel at all the the Saints preseason opener against the Cardinals, including wide receivers Marques Colston and Devery Henderson, linebacker Jonathan Vilma, safety Josh Bullocks, defensive tackle Brian Young, running back Deuce McAllister, tight end Jeremy Shockey, cornerbacks Mike McKenzie and Tracy Porter.

Most of these are just precautionary and if it were the regular season, they'd suit up.

This will give young players like Robert Meachem, Adrian Arrington, Skyler Green, Usama Young, Pierre Thomas and Sedrick Ellis more attention and playing time. This will also help a veterans like Kevin Kaesviharn, who is battle Josh Bullocks for a starting spot at safety.

Just one more day and the Saints will be playing football on national TV!

Preseason Coaches Poll Ranks LSU 6th

The USA Today Preseason Coaches Poll has been released and LSU sits at #6 overall with three first place votes. Ahead of the Tigers are 1. Georgia, 2. USC, 3. Ohio State, 4. Oklahoma and 5. Florida. Other SEC teams ranked include 11. Auburn and 18. Tennessee.

Below is the Coaches Poll:

Preseason poll
Rank	TeaRm (first-place votes)	Reord	Points	Final 2007 rankings
1.	Georgia (22)	11-2	1,438	3
2.	Southern California (14)	11-2	1,430	2
3.	Ohio State (14)	11-2	1,392	4
4.	Oklahoma (3)	11-3	1,329	8
5.	Florida (5)	9-4	1,293	16
6.	LSU (3)	12-2	1,163	1
7.	Missouri	12-2	1,143	5
8.	West Virginia	11-2	1,008	6
9.	Clemson	9-4	999	22
10.	Texas	10-3	979	10
11.	Auburn	9-4	888	14t
12.	Wisconsin	9-4	747	21
13.	Kansas	12-1	714	7
14.	Texas Tech	9-4	644	23
15.	Virginia Tech	11-3	568	9
16.	Arizona State	10-3	560	13
17.	Brigham Young	11-2	547	14t
18.	Tennessee	10-4	506	12
19.	Illinois	9-4	422	18
20.	Oregon	9-4	399	24
21.	South Florida	9-4	350	NR
22.	Penn State	9-4	313	25
23.	Wake Forest	9-4	203	NR
24.	Michigan	9-4	112	19
25.	Fresno State	9-4	91	NR
Others receiving votes
Others Receiving Votes: Alabama (7-6) 83; South Carolina (6-6) 64; Utah (9-4) 60; Florida State (7-6) 53; Rutgers (8-5) 53; Boston College (11-3) 47; California (7-6) 41; Pittsburgh (5-7) 34; Boise State (10-3) 25; Oregon State (9-4) 23; Nebraska (5-7) 17; Cincinnati (10-3) 13; Virginia (9-4) 12; Connecticut (9-4) 9; Michigan State (7-6) 9; Mississippi State (8-5) 6; Kentucky (8-5) 5; Notre Dame (3-9) 5; TCU (8-5) 5; Maryland (6-7) 4; North Carolina (4-8) 3; Texas A&M (7-6) 3; UCLA (6-7) 3; Central Florida (10-4) 2; Georgia Tech (7-6) 2; Louisville (6-6) 2; Arizona (5-7) 1; Colorado (6-7) 1; Oklahoma State (7-6) 1; Tulsa (10-4) 1.